


Cry (Bleed) Me a River

by AnotherWorld3111



Series: Ink, Blood, and Bullets [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Child Neglect, Cussing, F/M, Gen, I forgot how to tag, Inappropriate Use of Italics, Killer Jared Padalecki, Lots of that, Manipulation, Murder, Prequel, Science Stuff, Underage Drinking, duh have you seen what series this belongs to, except for how its really not cuz hello its a prequel, like a lot of that too, my poor boi Chad really goes through this one, prob inaccurate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29651274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherWorld3111/pseuds/AnotherWorld3111
Summary: Chad had an idea of how his life was panned out. It involved half asking his way through school, ignoring the shit show that occurred on a nightly basis at his house, and otherwise just living the life. And then he was assigned a science project, but that wasn't the kicker – no, the kicker was that his partner wasJared fricking Padalecki,and the dude wasn't gonna let Chad skimp out on the project as much as he cared about it.Chad was so gonna put thumbtacks on his science teacher's chair.Prequel to Ink, Blood, and Bullets. Written from Chad's perspective, delving into the backstory that (maybe kind of perhaps?) explains why Chad is so 'loyal' to serial killer!Jared
Relationships: Jared Padalecki/Adrianne Palicki, Sophia Bush/Chad Michael Murray
Series: Ink, Blood, and Bullets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178873
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5





	Cry (Bleed) Me a River

**Author's Note:**

> jfc I started this back in November... and by that I mean I worked on it for one.. maybe two.. maybe three days? and then this didn't really see the light of day through dec or jan (not really anyway) and then come feb, I got a computer, and I sat my ass through this pos  
> so yeah, its not my best work, there's prob a fuckton of typos cuz its not beta'ed, and it's also gon be the only thing I ever post to this 'series,' so I hope it satisfies enough  
> also, yes, its a prequel, so no Jensen (see the summary and tags?) sorry but welp  
> enjoy, Ig?

**September 2000**

Chad wasn’t some sort of sob story case. He had a house, he was well fed, he went to school – he was living the life! And yeah, he had two parents, and maybe they weren’t exactly doting like some Sunday evening special, but they weren’t bringing a belt on his ass either, so Chad wasn’t complaining about shit – because there wasn’t shit for him to complain about.

All that being said… maybe he wasn’t entirely happy with his life. Everything was just… so dull, no spark or excitement that made his life thrilling. It just… was. He’d wake up in the morning, get ready for school, go to school, half ass his way through school, come home, eat dinner up in his room, and shoot the shit on his TV before going to bed, homework be damned. And the cycle would begin anew the next day; rinse, lather, repeat. 

He didn’t expect high school to be any different. Same verse, different song. At the most, he figured the kids he’d ditch class with could now get their hands more easily on some smokes. Hanging out on the bleachers would no longer force him to interact with those airheads. 

Except, the very first day, first period (fuck science, the only chemistry he needed wasn’t the kind he’d get a degree for. At least, he didn’t think it was a thing yet), first everything, and Chad somehow found himself seated next to who would be considered the jock of the class of ‘01. He’d always seen the guy from afar – who didn’t? – and they’d exchanged pleasantries, but if the teacher forced Chad to interact with a _popular_ airhead, Chad was gonna fuck it all and—

“—Partner up with whoever’s sitting beside you, I don’t want you wasting time on that. This project is worth majority of your grade, so if you want to pass, I’d suggest you get started as soon as you get your topic—”

Chad was gonna put tacks on Mr. Baldhead’s chair during free period.

“Hey. I’m Jared.” Popular airhead stuck out a hand and grinned – and of course, Chad wasn’t surprised to find a set of perfectly gleaming white teeth directed at him. 

Maybe he’d save a tack for this kid as well.

“I know,” Chad said dryly, but forced himself to shake the kid’s hand. No use making enemies of the guy who ran the school, and who he might need to suck up to for their – or rather, _Jared’s_ project. “I’m Chad,” he introduced himself.

“Cool!” Jared lit up like he’d just invented the latest tech that was all the rave. Far too enthusiastic. As he turned around to grab his notebook, Chad found himself watching Jared’s eyes closely.

If Jared seemed surprised by Chad’s abrupt scrutinization, he didn’t show any signs of being caught off guard. Not even a subtle widening of the eyes, and Chad knew for a fact that his leery stare could come across as, well, creepy when he wanted it to.

Narrowing his eyes, Chad mentally dissed his teacher. He just found a new project that he could find himself actually invested about for once in his entire life, and it had nothing to do with… _what the fuck was cell regeneration_?

“So, how do you want to start this?”

Chad raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, have you met me?” He automatically retorted.

Jared faltered, a careful blink of the eyes, leaning himself back, pausing hesitantly. God, Chad had seen it all before – it’s how his parents behaved towards each other, and it’s what kept their marriage going. Even if it was all just a sham, barely kept from falling apart.

What did this kid, the school’s beloved athlete, have to hide to keep himself from losing it?

“I… just did?” Jared said, sounding like he was second guessing himself.

Chad rolled his eyes. Okay, the kid’s acting was _good,_ he could admit that much, but in case he really didn’t bother to know about the likes of Chad, then he’d be happy to enlighten him.

“Look. There’s two types of people in this school; the kind that’s scrambling all around to get A’s and the hot girls while being every parent’s wet dream.” Chad raised an eyebrow pointedly. “That’s you,” he said, rather needlessly if he thought. “And then there’s the kids who don’t give a shit, we’re just going along with the flow.” He reclined against his chair, resting his arms on the back of the chair. It was a tight fit – these plastic chairs were the basis of multiple torture devices, Chad was certain. “I belong to the second category.” Letting his head drop to the side, he regarded Jared with cool eyes. “ _So_. What makes you think I have any idea what we’re supposed to be working on?”

Jared just stared. And then. surprising Chad, he threw his head back, and laughed.

It was short, but loud, and Chad could imagine the angels singing as everyone in the classroom stopped to stare at Jared, including the teacher. If they weren’t sitting, Chad wouldn’t also bet his lunch money that more than one girl’s panties would be dropping at that moment.

Regaining his composure rather quickly, something slid off of Jared’s face, and his smile became more fixed. “You’re funny,” Jared said, still smiling. “I like you.”

It was creepy, odd, and unnerving, but the closest Chad figured was to the real Jared than anyone had ever seen. And despite himself, Chad was definitely intrigued.

He allowed himself a grin as well, winking at Jared. “Cool. Does that mean you like me enough to let me off the hook with this project?”

Again, Jared chuckled, but it thankfully wasn’t as loud and attention grabbing as last time. “Hell, nah. You’re pulling your own weight here, Murray.”

Chad didn’t miss the usage of his last name. Either the kid had alarmingly good attention, or he did know who Chad was. It could’ve been either, but Chad wasn’t worried. He’d figure out what made the kid tick before he’d have to worry about his ass being plastered to the school’s lockers. 

“Now, I was thinking we could start with splitting the project up in sections, like what are the various possibilities that could lead to cells being regenerated, versus what would cause them to be permanently deceased…”

Okay, seriously. What the fuck was cell regeneration?

oOo

“Your parents are nice.” Jared commented dubiously.

They’d decided to hang out at Chad’s to get a start on their project. Chad was still certain that he could convince Jared to work on the entire thing himself, and get away with starting up his video games himself. After all, he did _try_ to look up the topic, and there was no way a high schooler was expected to do this kind of work, was there?

It was familiar territory, if only because Chad knew they wouldn’t be disturbed – but with the way Jared was acting, he’d guessed he should’ve filled Jared in on that particular memo. It wasn’t like he had any qualms with people taking note of how odd his parents would be – no one really noticed in the first place. His parents were great at convincing people that they had the perfect, white picket fence, family shtick going on.

‘Course, Jared would pick up on the weird vibes. Chad wasn’t entirely surprised. Easier to put on a front on the outside, but with Jared pretty much inside the dragon’s lair, it wasn’t gonna be as easy to hide a truth that wasn’t an actual, deep, dark secret in the first place.

No one cared to know about a truth that they wouldn’t have cared to do anything about even if they did.

“Yeah, they’re great.” Chad snarked. He eyed Jared as he cautiously made himself at home on Chad’s carpet — probably the only spot in his entire room that wasn’t covered in filth. Typical teenager’s room, and it wasn’t like Chad had anyone hounding at his ass to pick up after himself.

“Right,” Jared trailed off, and then he took a proper look at Chad, lounging on his bed and booting up the TV. “Uh, what’re you doing?”

“Uh, what does it look like?” Chad mocked. “New game is out, you think I’m gonna waste anymore time _not_ playing it?”

He thought Jared would keep at it, nagging at Chad to help him with the project they were supposed to be working on. Maybe, and this was pushing it, but maybe Jared would’ve seen the lost cause Chad was and up and ditch him at that point. What Chad wasn’t expecting was for Jared’s eyes to widen in recognition.

“Is that _Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater_?” He rattled out, completely awestruck. 

Unbidden, a smug smirk crept its way onto Chad’s face. “Yep.”

“Dude, that doesn’t even come out for another few weeks!” Jared exclaimed, awe evident in his slackened jaw. 

Chad’s smirk only grew. “What can I say, while you’re busy smooching teacher’s asses, I’ve been busy with the outside world,” Chad declared grandly. He side-eyed Jared’s visible interest. “You wanna play?”

“Hell, yeah, man!” Jared enthused. He scrambled over to grab the controller Chad offered. Chad raised his eyebrows. So, maybe Jared wasn’t a complete goody-goody. Ditching an all too important project in favor of a kickass game like cool kids actually did? Maybe Jared was an actual, normal, human teenager.

Chad studiously ignored the tiny, niggling thought in his mind that seemed to find something ironically wrong with that statement. 

oOo

As the days passed into weeks, Chad hated to say it, but he was starting to find himself on genuinely friendly terms with one Jared Padalecki. The guy wasn’t that bad to be around, namely because he wasn’t actively trying to get Chad to straighten up his act or whatever…

And he wasn’t _forcing_ Chad to work on his portion of the project either. Which, honestly, that came as a surprise.

Until Chad realized that Jared wasn’t doing anything about Chad’s part, which is when things had come kind of to a blow. One that Jared was, annoyingly efficient at deescalating before it could become an issue in the school hallways. Where Chad stupidly decided to bring it up. 

So, yeah, it was probably a good thing Jared was being all pacifist and shit. Or else Chad would’ve hated having to knock the school’s golden boy down a couple of pegs. Because that’s totally what would’ve happened.

“Dude, I’m not saying I’m leaving you to drown or some shit. I’m just saying, maybe you can at least – you know. At least read some things for me, and I’ll slap some shit together, and it should cover your portion. It’ll be the bare minimum, but at least that way it won’t be too blatantly obvious that I’m doing your work for you.” Despite the grin, Jared didn’t look too pleased. But he wasn’t outright frowning, so Chad figured that he had a point. And that they were probably still going to hang out that evening.

Unfortunately for him, it looked like he might actually be doing some work, for once, instead of completely dissing everything.

‘Course, that didn’t mean he didn’t try to evade Jared… except Jared hunkered down and actually started working on the project, politely declining Chad’s offer to play a round of good ol’ Donkey Kong. And Chad knew the guy wasn’t gonna be the kind of samaritan he wanted him to be and do Chad’s work for him so that Chad wouldn’t have to worry about anything, could just relax, take a load off his mind and cool down–

Yeah, no. Jared wasn’t that much of a nerd to literally go above and beyond the project’s requirements. He was enough of a do-gooder to not do Chad’s work, even if he wouldn’t tell anyone that he helped Chad in the first place – more than allowed.

And see, Chad didn’t want to outright fail, per se. He didn’t care about his classes, but he didn’t _not_ care to completely flunk out. 

Actually, Chad had grown pretty apathetic towards the whole school thing, with a touch of infuriation at the most.

He did his work, though. Jared was damn cunning, Chad noticed. It started with reading the material required for the project. Then selecting the best sources – which was more fun than Chad thought it would be. In a morbidly fascinating way, because if he was gonna do any work, he was gonna do the fun shit (surprising that there were any but it was a miracle that Chad wasn’t taking up against Jared, that was for sure) and what was more interesting than reading about how alcohol killed the lungs?

...It probably should dissuade him from drinking in the future, but Chad already had his sights on wasting away his college years – whether or not he went, was another matter entirely – in a haze of drugs and alcohol.

Anyway. Initially, it started with gathering books, most of which ended up in the pile he deemed useless, but the ones that had the slightest of potential, Chad relished tossing them at Jared.

From there, it progressed to compiling at least a few quotes here and there. And before he knew it, Chad had a decent amount of work filled out to fulfil his side of the project, and put in maybe just as much work as Jared did.

Okay, even to Chad, he knew that was a stretch, but still.

It wasn’t because he was actually into the project, though.

No, their forced proximity of sorts meant Chad had to spend time with Jared. And by spending more time than he initially would’ve wanted with the guy, Chad realized – the kid wasn’t as straight laced as he seemed.

Nah, the kid was a dancer swaying through a masquerade, blending in seamlessly with his damn mask, better than everyone else’s making him the perfect model of an average human… when he was hiding something else.

Seriously. Chad took a look at Jared’s work. It shouldn’t have rang any bells, but the in depth analysis of the effects of dead cells for a human body bordered on a level of creepy that bypassed Chad’s completely _healthy_ version of a morbid fascination with what he was assigned.

It wasn’t often, Jared was just too good. But there were times, like with the project, when Jared’s eyes spoke very differently than the rest of his stance, contradicting the words he uttered. Maybe it was just Chad, long used to insincerity stemming from his own house, who picked it up when the airheads at school didn’t realize, but neither did the few people who had more depth. The point stood, there was something about Jared Padalecki, and Chad was determined to figure it out.

Even though a part of him already knew from the start…

oOo

“You’re a fucking psychopath, you know that?” Chad groaned as Jared mercilessly crushed his character on screen. Beside him, Jared roared with victory as his own character proceeded onto the next level, leaving a disintegrating Chad behind.

It was the day before winter break, and they’d officially finished their project. Technically, Chad knew it meant that they no longer had to spend time with each other, but… 

He’d been getting closer and closer to finding out the truth about Jared through careful surveillance and some stalking – not that he’d admit to that, god, what would the girls at school (that he totally didn’t care about, beyond their tits and ass) think? – but he still hadn’t reached the pinnacle of Padalecki.

One thing he did learn though. That tiny little pipsqueak of a voice in his brain was all too helpful, in a disgustingly educational way. He’d taken to sneakily borrowing psychology and human behavior books on the sly – yeah, none of the librarians trusted him at first. It took several book returns – it helped that he had a lot already from their project – before they’d let him take the books off of school property without bugging him, but he knew they still thought he was just frequenting the place to ogle the nerdy, glasses wearing girls. Which, while they weren’t completely wrong… 

Point was, Dr. Mini Chad had flourished with the information Chad actually found himself invested in. He could realize that he was learning some shit about himself that would’ve been hard to swallow pills except for how they weren’t – so his parents were neglectful bastards, what else was new? – but for some goddamn reason, he actually liked learning about this neurological shit, more than he ever cared about videogames, or school, or the project from hell that seemed right up Jared’s alley, or fuck, even his parents’ robotic marriage. 

Chad totally and silently blamed Jared for the newfound vitality within him. Apparently, a secret experiment to conduct on a possible friend-turned-labrat was what Chad needed his entire life.

Point was, school sucked, his parents were brainlessly slugging through a doomed marriage – grass was green, the sky was blue – Jared Padalecki might actually be a psychopath, and Chad was secretly a science geek.

God, Chad was never going to live it down if _anyone_ found out about that last one.

oOo

“Mr. Murray, may I speak with you?”

Biting down the scathing retort that _nah, Mr. Baldhead really couldn’t,_ Chad nodded, narrowing his eyes at the teacher as he redirected himself from the door to the teacher’s desk instead.

He never bought those thumbtacks, did he?

But as Jared shot him a mock sympathetic look that Chad instantly responded with a roll of his eyes before he could think about it, Chad decided that maybe he was due to revisit the plan anyway.

“‘Sup, teach?” He raised his eyebrows back at the teacher who only stared at him, unimpressed, before sighing. 

“I wanted to talk to you about your project…”

“I thought that wasn’t due yet?”

Mr. Baldhead’s unimpressed look only increased in intensity. “The rough draft is due the first day after winter break, which your partner was oh so kind to hand in on your behalf.”

“Ah… right.”

Mr. Baldhead shook his head. “Anyway. From what I can tell, the entire piece is actually… well done,” he said, and it took Chad a couple of seconds to register the genuity in the man’s words. “In fact, it’s all so well put together and informative, if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was actually only one person who did this.” He peered at Chad over the rim of his glasses, even as Chad felt the need to protest because – aw, hell no. He didn’t put off hours of video gaming just to work on his project as a sort of compromise that he and Jared eventually reached, only for the dick to get all the credit. “But I do know better,” Mr. Baldhead – wait, didn’t Mr. Baldhead have a name that wasn’t actually Baldhead? – went on, “nevermind the fact that your… friend was insistent that you both spent equal effort on this, your sense of humor is… different, from Mr. Padalecki’s, and I commend you both on inserting… _appropriate_ humor.”

Chad shuffled on his feet where he stood. “Right…” Was there a point to this?

“My point is, Mr. Murray,” Mr. Baldhead said impatiently, as if he wasn’t the one holding them in place, “is that you might be seeing yourself set a record for the highest grade yet, in all these years you’ve been a student here.”

Huh. That… wasn’t what Chad expected to hear. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but… “So, a B, tops?”

Mr. Baldhead chuckled. “No, Mr. Murray. I’m thinking quite possibly even an A minus.”

“Oh.” Rad. Maybe Jared realized he really did need the grade more than Chad was willing to work for, so he probably changed stuff… 

“Anyway. Your work was compelling enough that I was able to get through it first. I admit, I hadn’t had very high hopes, but let me tell you, I’m pleasantly surprised to be proven otherwise.” He handed Chad a sheaf of paper stapled together at the top corner. It was only after he’d taken it did he realize it was their rough draft, graded with – sure enough – a bright red A minus at the top. 

“Sweet,” Chad muttered. Elation never felt deserved, which was why it was predictably absent. And yet, he found himself scanning through the draft, trying to find what Jared might’ve changed or altered for the grade’s sake, and subsequently stopped paying much attention to the teacher.

Mr. Baldhead’s sigh was loud enough to bring him back to himself. “I’ll see you tomorrow, young man,” he said pointedly, and Chad nodded, already rushing out of the room, interest in the rough draft be damned.

“Thanks, teach!”

He’d barely taken a step out of the classroom before he bumped into Jared, and his face instantly twisted into a grimace – seriously, there was no legal reason why the dude had to be taller. Chest smashing into the dude was not a cool greeting, no matter what the dumb jocks seemed to think.   
Even more so when it felt like he walked face first into a damn brick wall. 

“Dude, what the hell?”

But Jared wasn’t paying attention to him, already grabbing the report from Chad’s hands and starting to leaf through it. “What’d Mr. Jones say?”

“Who?” Chad asked dumbly, which garnered a deadpan stare from Jared.

“The teacher, you doofus. What’d he tell you? I mean – had to be something good, wouldn’t have given us an A minus otherwise.”

“Right, about that.” Without prompting, Chad started walking, Jared easily matching his pace beside him even with his eyes pinned on the report, and yet effectively maneuvering his way through the last remnants of the crowd scrambling to get to their next class before the bell rang. “Long story short? He said something about me having potential. Guess I got you to thank for that,” he nudged Jared’s arm with an elbow as they came to a stop where the both of them usually parted ways for their respective classes.

Jared frowned. “For making you work on our project before the last possible minute?”

“No, dumbo. For polishing my part. I know you care about your grades, but this is gonna boost mine too. Which _means_ –” Chad stressed, careful to keep going on before Jared could get any wrong ideas – namely, like Chad decided to start worrying over his own grades as well.

Eugh. He could’ve gagged at the thought itself. “–that it’ll be more likely that I don’t have to retake the class next year. So, cheers for making sure I wasn’t held back a year, man.”

Jared’s frown didn’t dissipate, and the focus of his stare, all pinned down onto one Chad Murray made him itch to start walking, even if it was to his next class. 

“But I didn’t do anything?” Jared said. “I mean, I fixed your grammar and other spelling mistakes, but everything you put in the final piece is your own stuff, dude. This one?” Jared shrugged. “This was the stuff we got before we ‘polished’ our _own_ pieces and made sure they fit together,” Jared said. “I told you already, man. You’re pulling your own weight with this one, I ain’t helping you get by on my skills and talent,” Jared smirked. 

Before Chad could say anything else, Jared clapped Chad on the shoulder, knocking the words – and the wind – out of his throat. “Anyway. Bell’s about to go off. Catch ya later, Murray!” He began to jog backwards, still looking at Chad. “I’ve got practice after school, but don’t you dare start the next level without me!”

Chad stared at Jared’s retreating back for a second before he turned around and began walking in the opposite direction. “Motherfucker,” he muttered to himself. “Kid actually made me an intellectual.”

He was definitely starting up the next level without Padalecki’s ass immediately after school let out. God knew Chad needed some semblance of control over the situation.

oOo

“Yo, man. What’re you doing out here?” Suddenly, Jared grinned. With a little jump, he hitched the backpack carelessly slung over one shoulder up higher before it could fall. “Wait — lemme guess. You missed my pretty ass and couldn’t wait any longer to see me?”

Chad rolled his eyes. He kicked at his own backpack, which he’d long since abandoned on the ground by his feet. “Haha. Fuckhead. Can we hang out at yours instead?” He said without any preamble. 

Jared was clearly surprised by the abrupt request. In all fairness, since they’d begun hanging out — forced to hang out, Chad would vehemently correct anyone who tried to say anything, which, not that anyone had, yet — it was always at Chad’s. Neither of them had a problem with it before, especially not with Chad’s obviously unbeatable set up. 

The very same set up that his parents had given him to keep him out of the way, which he’d been fine with. Closing himself in his room and away from his parents had always worked out fine. But that was when it was just him in the house with his parents. Now, with Jared…

And like he could tell, Jared glanced at the house behind Chad before his expression cleared. Chad didn’t know what he was thinking, where they were, at the end of the driveway and by the road, they couldn’t hear Chad’s parents going at it. Much. 

“Yeah, man,” Jared said easily, “sure.” Walking backwards from the way he came, he raised an eyebrow. “You coming?”

Bending down to pick up his bag, he quickly jogged to fall in step by Jared as way of response, though he emphasized it with a smack to Jared’s arm. “Don’t walk too slow there, buddy,” Chad smirked. “I promise your mom won’t adopt me instead and call me her new favorite. Maybe.”

Jared snorted. “You wish.”

Chad side eyed him. “Wanna bet?”

“Oh, it is _on.”_ And despite not knowing where Jared lived, Chad took off running ahead of Jared — though it didn’t last long. He was the school jock for a reason, and Jared only accentuated the fact when he captured Chad in a headlock and forced them to walk the rest of the — blessedly — short way to Jared’s home with Chad’s head uncomfortably close to Jared’s sweaty pit. And just because of that, Chad only bothered to shove Jared as hard as he could before dialing up the charm to a hundred after they let themselves in — Chad taking a moment to silently appreciate the digs — and encountered Jared’s first family member. 

And score, if Chad’s assumption turned out right. 

“Hi! You must be Jared’s mother.” 

The plump, middle-aged woman, raised her eyebrows with surprise, presumably at the addition her son brought along home. Taking off her glasses, she set down the book she was reading. “Why, yes, I am. And you are?”

“My name is Chad, Mrs. Padalecki. I apologize for the lack of informing you beforehand, but we decided only a few minutes ago to move our meetings to yours — with your permission, of course.” 

Mrs. Padalecki started laughing. A quick side glance at Jared had Chad stifling a snort of laughter. He was staring at Chad as if he’d never seen him before. 

Mrs. Padalecki spoke, bringing his attention back to Jared’s mom. “Well-spoken boy, aren’t you?” 

Jared’s head whipped around. And yet, he stayed silent. 

“Alright, you boys feel free to head upstairs. Jared — let your father know you’re home.”

“Right,” Jared drawled. “I’ll do that. Where is he?”

“He’s in the kitchen, dear.” Mrs. Padalecki said, already putting her glasses back on and picking up her book. 

Pointing him in the direction of the stairs, Jared nudged him, even as his eyes promised him they’d talk. Chad just smiled sweetly. “My room’s just straight ahead. Go ahead and wait there, I’ll be up in a bit.”

Despite being left alone in a house he’d never been in before, Chad easily made his way upstairs. Walking right into the room in front of the stairs, he only needed a glance around before deciding it had to be Jared’s, unless he had a twin they didn’t know about, if the picture frames on the room were any indication. 

Letting his backpack fall to the ground by the door, Chad slumped backwards onto the bed, tucking his hands under his head. 

When Jared returned, it was with a tray piled with snacks and a couple of glasses, which he immediately set on his desk. “Okay, spill. What the fuck was that?” He raised his eyebrows at Chad. 

Chad raised his eyebrows right back. “What, you think I can’t play nice?”

“Uh huh.” Jared turned around and grabbed a bag of chips, tossing it to Chad. “Stellar acting skills you got there.” He commented. 

Chad grinned, tearing open the bag and cramming several of them in his mouth at once. “‘Fan’s.” He bared his teeth, unabashedly baring the sight of chewed up potatoes to Jared.

He wasn’t fazed, only grabbing himself a bag of chips as well before plopping down backwards onto the chair in front of his desk. “So, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

Jared stared at him. “You’ve never asked to hang out at mine before.”

Chad shrugged. “So I wanted a change of scenery. Is that a crime now?”

“A crime? Nah,” Jared said easily, “just wondering what prompted your sudden need for that change.”

It was obvious what he was referring to, and Chad abruptly frowned. “Yeah? Well, maybe I don’t wanna talk about it.” He raised his eyebrows at Jared, belatedly trying to lighten the mood. “A man ain’t entitled to his secrets?” He said, and if his tone was a bit more pointed than need be, Jared didn’t address it. Case in point.

Jared hummed. “Fine. You can keep your secrets. But I’ll pry them out of you yet, Murray.” 

Chad blithely smiled, all the while only thinking, _right back atcha, Padalecki._

oOo

The time came all too soon for Chad to realize what Jared was hiding behind that impeccable, flawless mask that was so perfect he knew — _he fucked called it_ — that it couldn’t be real. And… needless to say, nothing could’ve prepared him for the truth. In hindsight, Chad wondered if all this time, he’d have been better off remaining as oblivious as the rest of the student body — hell, the rest of everyone else. 

Well. At least he couldn’t say he didn’t have an eventful prom — or wait, actually, no, he really couldn’t say he had an eventful prom, because who the fuck was he supposed to say what the fuck about?

oOo

“Would you _mind_?” Sophia hissed.

Gritting his teeth, Chad turned his head away to hide an eyeroll. “Yes, I do, actually,” he muttered.

“Ugh,” Sophia gave a full body shudder and took yet another side step away from him. Not that Chad cared. 

At first, he’d been thrilled. One of the hottest girls in school with a matching rack asking _him_ to prom? He’d have been over the moon, absolutely certain that he was going to score that night. He should’ve realized, the moment Sophia asked, oh so casual, about Jared, that the girl wasn’t into _him._ Somehow (by more or less stalking Jared in the hallways and wherever else on school premises – Chad didn’t know, nor did he want to, if that extended beyond the campus), Sophia knew that Chad hung out with Jared. And somehow, she figured they’d hang out at prom.

Which he wasn’t going to, nuh uh. They may have hung out with each other for the project, and increasingly so for unrelated reasons too afterwards, but while Chad was more of a drifter, Jared had his own, completely separate friend group. 

AKA, the royal airheads that was the school’s sports team. And by extension, the cheerleaders, that Sophia was a part of. 

Seriously, she’d have had better luck asking pretty much anyone else in the baseball team. At least then, Chad wouldn’t have had to deal with her bitch of a voice. 

“Come _on,_ Brad–”

“It’s _Chad,_ ” he muttered disdainfully.

“–why are we even loitering around the corners like some losers?” Sophia went on. And yet, she unerringly continued to drag him on to where Jared stood. Chad sighed.

All too soon, he found himself standing on the edge of where the baseball team had formed a circle. Still, Sophia didn’t stop, barely polite as she elbowed her way to the center where, lo and behold, Jared stood, a pretty blonde attached to his side. Unlike Chad, at least he looked like he was enjoying the attention the blonde was bestowing on him. Sophia’s scowl could’ve burned holes in the girl’s dress, but it quickly melted away into a simpering smile when Jared glanced at her, attention garnered by their approach.

“Hey, man,” Jared grinned, easy and lax. He had one arm slung around the girl’s hip, another holding a cup of punch. 

Chad wondered if it was spiked. He’d already pilfered his dad’s whiskey cabinet, but he wasn’t gracious enough to dump its contents into the punch bowl for everyone else to enjoy. Nah, his little flask was firmly secure within the confines of his coat’s pocket. 

He may have had plans as to how he planned on spending his post high school years, but there wasn’t any reason for him not to start now. No matter the warnings he typed into the science project. 

“Hey, man,” Chad greeted back. He had his own hands tucked into his pockets, a good half a foot distance between him and Sophia.

She turned to him, lips curled into a sneer for the tiniest of second before it disappeared into a faux sweet look. “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Brad?” She asked, pointedly.

Chad stared at her, unimpressed. “Yeah. It’s Chad. And you must be Sarah.” Her nostrils flared, a telltale sign she was a second away from exploding, when the girl beside Jared came to the rescue. 

“Oh, you’re Chad!” The girl exclaimed. “I’m Adrianne,” she stuck a hand out to shake, which Chad did so, feeling a tad skeptical at her cheeriness. “Jared was just talking about you, you guys were working on that science project for Mr. Jones, right? How the hell did you finish it so quickly?”

Sophia settled into a quiet simmer, clearly unpleased to be left ignored. Chad didn’t do anything to alleviate her frustration by focusing solely on the girl – Adrianne – and Jared. “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad,” he said, feeling a lot more in his element to be speaking with a girl who was a lot more receptive.

The bar wasn’t too high – a brick wall would’ve been easily more receptive than Sophia. And yet, the school’s female population was all too high with the likes of her, which Chad unfortunately knew all too well.

Jared snorted. “You say that now, but we both know your lazy ass wouldn’t have done your part if I hadn’t beaten you at your own games.”

The girls stared at Jared with curiosity for that. 

Chad rolled his eyes, staring at Adrianne. “Lies. They’re all lies. Don’t believe a word he says.”

“So you didn’t do your half of the project?” Adrianne asked, but she looked more amused than anything else.

Chad wasn’t stupid. This girl clearly dug the smarts, and so what if she was hanging off of Jared’s arm? A little fun wouldn’t hurt – especially not when his own ‘date’ was being a complete skank.

“Of course I did!” He retorted. “I’m talking about the other stuff – me losing? Pfft, nah. Jared’s the one who’s got baby thumbs with controllers. But me? Sweetheart, I know how to use my thumbs just right.” He leered at her, completing his statement with a lewd wink. 

It could’ve gone two ways. Either Adrianne could’ve reacted like Sophia, who groaned with disgust and swatted him in the arm – which, _ouch,_ she packed a punch – or she could’ve done what she did, was laughing at him like he was entertaining. 

Which was frankly still a lot better than the bruise on his limb. 

“God, Chad, you’re disgusting,” Sophia said, and finally, she stepped to the center of attention by grabbing onto Chad’s arm and whirling him around until he was facing her. “Seriously, could you be any more immature and just – ugh, you’re such a disgrace to be around!” She exclaimed. “I can’t believe I agreed to go to prom with you.” 

And then, with one last heated glare at Jared – did some of her anger for Chad transfer to Jared, or was that how she thought a sexy, sultry face looked like? – she stomped off, shoving her way through the rest of the baseball team that had formed a closer circle around them at the drama.

Chad raised his eyebrows, exhaling deeply. “Jesus fucking H. Christ,” he muttered. “God blessed a lot of women, but he sure missed some of them.” 

Behind him, Adrianne snickered, and he turned around, unsure if she expected him to be contrite or not what with her reaction. “I’m sorry, Chad,” she said, at least looking genuine about it. “Sophia’s a bit… strong headed.”

“A ‘bit,’” Chad repeated dumbly. “Right.” But then he shrugged, and glanced at Jared. He was staring at Sophia back’s with a contemplative look, and Chad wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Yo,” he said, making Jared look at him. “Anything interesting in that?” He titled his chin at Jared’s cup, and Jared followed his line of sight, frowning at his cup. 

“Uh, no?” He said, looking confused. “It’s just punch, dude. And none of the good stuff, either.” He wrinkled his nose. “Kinda tastes like ass, to be honest.”

Chad raised an eyebrow. “And you’d know how that tastes, wouldn’t you?” He smirked, and shook his head, going on before Jared could get him back for that. “Anyway, amateurs. Let Uncle Chad spice up your night!” 

Adrianne frowned at him, leaning into Jared’s side. “He… doesn’t mean what I think he means, does he?” 

Chad scoffed. “Oh, please.” Whipping out his flask, Jared and Adrianne both looked like they weren’t sure if they were supposed to be relieved or further concerned by what Chad was very obviously holding. “I’m a professional. Which means,” he uncapped the bottle, feeling very generous as he held it out to them. “I’ll let you have a sip, each.”

oOo

For better or worse, Chad found himself sticking to Jared’s group for the rest of the night. The baseball team… wasn’t so bad. For being comprised of airheads. They were pretty chill, excepting Chad’s presence without complaint, so he hung around, though he didn’t talk much except to Adrianne. For all that she was Jared’s date, and they stuck to each other’s sides, she – or Jared – didn’t mind chatting with Chad while Jared joked around with his baseball buddies. He’d occasionally lean into their conversation, smiling and offering his own two cents as Chad and Adrianne – and yet another surprise – spoke about video games, before turning back to his buddies, one person or the other hooting for Jared’s attention like the popular jock he was. 

Despite being a lot closer than he’d have ever thought he’d find himself by the group Chad had very firmly labeled as jocks in his mind, Chad remained as undisturbed as he was since Sophia ditched him. Still didn’t mean he was going to suddenly change colors and try checking out the football team though.

But the time inevitably came when the partygoers started drifting from the gym’s halls, some couples necking recklessly in the shadows, pretty much acting as bait for the attending teachers to catch them, others more smartly disappearing through the heavy doors leading to the liberating outsides. As more and more people left, less people lingered around Jared, and then Chad couldn’t ignore the looks Adrianne and Jared were not so secretly sharing. He sighed, knocking back the last few drops of his precious whiskey, a dark part of him abruptly wishing he hadn’t shared the few sips that Adrianne hadn’t minded taking. Jared, oddly enough, had kindly refused, but said nothing apart from smirking ever so slightly with amusement while he watched Adrianne react with a slight cough at the burn of the alcohol sliding down her throat.

Sharing, Chad mused with distaste, had its pros and cons. On the downside, he was left with less for himself, but on the seemingly upside, he was making friends. Chad still wasn’t sure how he felt about making friends with this specific clique, but hey, if one day he found himself hanging out with Adrianne – or, well, someone like her – on the regular in the future, no one could say Chad didn’t call it. ‘Cause he totally was, even though he didn’t want to. So maybe he shouldn’t.

Chad frowned at himself. So maybe there was another pro of sharing, because apparently, the whiskey was hitting him harder than he thought. He could barely keep up with his thoughts, and when he raised his head – when did he slump into himself? – eyes blinking heavily, he realized Jared and Adrianne weren’t anywhere to be found.

Great. He’d been ditched, and his so proclaimed new friend and older friend didn’t even have the decency to let him know they were jumping. Wonderful.

Without bothering to say goodbye to the rest of the stragglers that was the baseball team, Chad withdrew himself from the loose circle of people, feeling disoriented as he made his way to the exit. He’d taken the cab here – his family had exactly one car, and Chad wasn’t driving it – with Sophia, but it was probably for the best if he walked home. His parents had never paid much attention to him before, but he wasn’t going to risk today being the night they’d look at their son – only to find him drunk.

Maybe when he was above legal age. But that was far enough in the future that had him hunkering further down into himself self-consciously, trying to just focus on the _now_ that was his two left feet trying to outpace the other one.

Head in the clouds, he didn’t know when he got home, only aware that one moment, he was raising his head, and the lights from within his house shone outside, his lone figure casting a shadow on the driveway. The fresh air did him wonders, even if he lost time, that he felt sober enough to know that he hadn’t the patience tonight to deal with the raised voices coming from within, even if it were to quietly slink inside and retreat to his bedroom.

Sighing, he turned around, and began walking.

It wasn’t like he was running away. God knows he had plenty of opportunities and absolutely zero motivation, laziness aside. And sure, the call of the multitude of video games – the only way his mother, in particular, paid attention to him, both to gift him with it and to scold him over it – had always fulfilled the role his parents failed to step up to. But tonight, the thought of just melting his brain on moving pixels until he fell asleep wasn’t exactly appealing.

So, he walked. 

Never let it be said that Chad couldn’t appreciate the wonders of nature. Or, well, let anyone say fuck all they want about him, but that wouldn’t be the truth. Chad could take the moment to appreciate the smaller things in life, or whatever else people went around sniffing that wasn’t artificial and made to blow your senses out of this world. He just didn’t choose to take that route – literally, he chuckled to himself, as he currently took a lesser taken path out of the many others that led to the woods. 

Man, he must’ve still had some alcohol in his system.

Anyway. Point was, Chad didn’t make it a point of habit roaming around the woods at night, like he was doing now. He wasn’t a psychopath, nor was he willing to pretty much offer himself up to one, walking around in the middle of the woods all by his lonesome. And he sure as fuck wasn’t some flimsy damsel, or whatever other characteristics those whimsical girls had, in the stupid fantasy romance novels that almost every simpering girl in their school had carried at one point, whether or not they actually read it being an entirely different matter.

But the fresh air was nice, and the silence was blissfully even more so.

Except…

Chad paused, head cocked to the side. Of course, the one night he goes out, adamant that he wasn’t going to be involved in some sort of novelistic story, potential psychopath included, the woods weren’t silent. 

And from what he could hear… actually, Chad had no idea what he was listening to, but the situation was enough to clear the remnants of the alcoholic haze from his mind, and it was with much steadier feet that Chad silently crept forward, trying to peer around some trees to locate the source of the noise.

Everyone knew there was a river at pretty much the epicenter of the woods that bordered the outskirts of town. It led to a small lake several miles (and miles) away, where there was a park and subsequently more populated. This side of the woods was pretty much abandoned, the forestry too dense and the tree huggers striving hard to keep the balance as such. 

So for someone else to be all the way out here? Screamed stranger danger, psychopath alert, and a bunch of other red flags that should have had Chad running in the opposite danger. Hell, it was rather dubious that Chad had gotten this far into the woods himself without noticing. 

Only, he didn’t turn tail and run like he should’ve. Because that wasn’t a stranger dumping something from a bag into the river. That was Jared.

And whatever the hell was in the black garbage bag, couldn’t have been bird food, because the red stains visible were all too well to Chad’s eyes, despite the dim lighting with only the moon for company.

Chad realized at that second, that he was very much frozen.

He also realized that there really was a psychopath in the woods.

He _also_ realized that he might’ve actually, quite literally, stumbled onto what Jared was hiding behind that otherwise perfect mask at school and everywhere else he’d seen him, until today.

Chad was going to be sick. But Chad also didn’t want to be murdered. And then tossed into the fucking river, because Jesus fucking Christ, it could’ve been steak, it could’ve been a fucked up science project gone wrong and Jared saw no other way to dispose of the evidence, but it also very much could’ve been a human being – was that hair? Chad held back a gag – and he had no idea what to do.

He had a vague idea of what _not_ to do, and so he kept silent, silently fighting hard not to piss himself in fear, and when the garbage bag was emptied of only a quarter of its contents, Jared eventually moved on, ambling like he hadn’t a care in the world down the river.

As soon as he was far enough away, Chad didn’t wait to see what he was going to do with the rest of the bag. He knew he should probably wait until Jared was out of sight, but Jared was still walking along the river edge, and he could see it extend down quite a bit, Chad didn’t wait any longer.

He bolted.

oOo

He was almost tempted to just claim sickness the next day, but he didn’t have to. His head burnt hot enough to even his own hand, his parents would’ve forced him in bed (if they’d bothered enough) if it weren’t a weekend.

Come Monday, however, was a different story. 

He’d loitered around his room, his bathroom, and even the fucking kitchen for as long as he could. But eventually, his dad narrowed his eyes at him over the edge of the newspaper – that Chad knew his dad wasn’t reading, not when his mother was at the stove, both their backs so stiff he’d have thought they got ironed themselves ironed along with the clothes they were wearing.

He may have subconsciously craved for attention from his parents for as long as he could remember, but it just seemed so often than not that if it ever seemed like he was gonna get it, it was to be at the most inopportune time possible. 

So he did what he always did, but what was still starting to look like an alarming pattern lately, and hitched ass out his home, and begrudgingly made his way to school. 

oOo

“Did you hear?”

“Since prom—”

“How do they know for sure though?”

“I heard _Murray_ was her date.”

The last one was said with so much scorn, that even if it wasn’t his name that was being mentioned, Chad would’ve looked anyway. As it was, the only thing he received was a haughty stare, among other things, from the gaggle of girls who otherwise ignored him as they walked on. He refused to hunker down, keeping his head held high as he made his way to first period – which, oh, right. Was science. And of course, that meant he was in class with Jared. Who had, since that first day, taken to sitting by him. 

Studiously doing his best to ignore him, Chad slunk down into his seat, keeping his eyes straight ahead. Beside him, Jared couldn’t do more than frown, because the bell was already ringing, and Mr… what was it? Jonathan? Was getting to his feet, clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Mr. Murray,” Chad raised his eyebrows. “You’re needed at the principal’s office.” Chad looked around, as if looking for answers. Jared had his face twisted, as if he was supposed to look just as confused as Chad, but the twist of his mouth suggested that he knew something Chad didn’t, and didn’t like it very much.

The rest of the class, however, didn’t seem to share the same sentiments, even though the abrupt rise of hushed whispers indicated that they, at least, also had an idea of what was going on.

Chad was very much confused, but he had a bad feeling that was only growing in the pit of his stomach. It didn’t dissipate as the teacher continued to stare at him expectantly, so he reluctantly got up and left the room.

Slinking through the hallways like a ghost roaming the empty corridors, he briefly wondered why the principal wanted to see _him_ of all people. And just as briefly, he wondered if whatever he was being called for even warranted his presence. There was nothing stopping him from just turning on his heel, and at least the science teacher would be none the wiser.

And yet, he stood outside the principal’s office a scant few minutes later, knocking on the door. He stared at his hand, betrayed, as if it moved without his permission. It certainly felt like it did, but he didn’t have the time to mentally scold his limb before the door was opening, revealing a harried looking principal of one James Madison High. 

“Ah, Mr. Murray. Come on in.” Well, he definitely couldn’t do anything else _now,_ chance to bolt long past, so he did what he may as well have done, and got comfortable in the chair in front of the principal’s desk. At least it was comfy. 

Unlike the dude that was leaning against the wall, decked head to toe in cop gear. The sight of him had Chad pulling up short, and he paused, mid-motion in getting himself as cozy as he could considering the circumstances.

Whatever the circumstances were, looks like it needed to be readjusted.

“We’re just waiting on your father, here. He said he’d be by in a few more minutes.”

Okay, wait, what? There were so many things wrong with that sentence, Chad was momentarily stunned, unable to form a single coherent thought. The cop’s presence probably had something to contribute for that, and he eyed the man with complete distrust.

He tried to pinpoint which thought seemed more concerning, of which there were primarily two runner ups. The fact that his father was called to the office, or that the principal really expected him to show?

The cop… was a whole ‘nother ballpark. The feeling in his gut he had since he left science made its presence known again, sitting like a hard, unyielding anchor, complete with sharp edges and all.

He forcefully steered his thoughts to the matter at hand – the hand that didn’t seem as daunting to deal with, anyway. For the second one, Chad was kind of curious himself to see if his dad really would show up, but for the first… Chad hadn’t ever _done_ anything warranting his parents dropping by the principal’s office, but it was always a fine line that he’d expertly toed, secretly wanting and avoiding the potential attention notwithstanding. And he definitely didn’t do anything warranting a cop’s visit, Chad was sure. Which could only mean one thing… 

Nope. Not going there.

He’d give his father half an hour, Chad resolutely decided. After that, it would be up to the principal to let him go whenever, and hey, Chad didn’t have a problem with being officially (legally?) allowed to ditch class. But Chad knew, it was far better to prepare himself for the disappointment, and quite possibly some jail time, worst came to worst, if only to diminish the emotion when the events he could have foretold would come to pass. After all, being able to regularly walk to school, there was no way it would take his father even that allotted time to arrive.

So it came as a surprise when someone knocked on the door, the principal standing to walk around and the desk from where he’d been seated behind, apparently content to ignore Chad’s presence and just work on… whatever on his computer, and opened the door to, lo behold, allow his father entry.

Chad very discreetly gaped. And then the anxiety decided to settle in. Because now that his father was here, no doubt the principal would commence laying him a new one, god even knew for what, but it had to be something Chad did, and of course, Chad’s dad would be here to finally bestow the attention Chad had always craved but avoided for a _reason_ goddammit, and in the most horrendous way possible–

“Mr. Murray,” the principal began, looking at Chad’s father. “I’m unsure if you’ve heard the news.”

“No, I most certainly haven’t.” His dad raised his eyebrows, looking at the cop first, and then at Chad, as if he expected Chad to just give in and blurt everything right then and there. He was sorely tempted, but didn’t, not only because he didn’t know what the fuck was going on either.

“One of our students, Sophia Bush, has gone missing.”

Chad whipped his head around so fast, a bolt of pain had his eye going red. It took a second to clear, effectively silencing the first few words of whatever the principal had been saying.

“–Friday, the night of the prom. We were told that your son here had accompanied her to the event.” 

As if in synchronization, his dad’s head turned to regard Chad again, while the principal simultaneously slid his eyes to Chad as well, both of them obviously waiting for his input.

The cop was staring at him without blinking, a notepad in his hands and pencil poised to write.

“Woah, hold up.” He raised his hands, palms flat out as he tried to reorient himself. “Okay, first; sure, yeah, I _accompanied_ her, but she ditched me halfway through when she realized I wasn’t helping her get in Jared’s pa–uhm. She was interested in someone else, so she left me. I didn’t see her after that.” Chad said. Though looking at the principal, he noticed his dad’s eyebrows furrowing at his words. 

Well, shit. While he wasn’t expecting self-pity, and he sure as hell didn’t want it, he had no idea what that meant, but it clearly couldn’t have been anything good.

“Are you sure, Chad?” The principal prompted. “Did you see where she went, or if you saw her in the hallways when passing…?”

“Uh, no.” Not like he was gonna confess to drinking, more so on school grounds, and definitely not in front of the cop. “I wasn’t exactly paying attention, and I wasn’t looking out for her either,” he said, crossing his arms.

The principal nodded, looking disappointed, as if he wasn’t surprised Chad would say that. But surprisingly, it wasn’t him who spoke, but the cop.

“That’s understandable, Chad. But if there’s anything you can remember, at all, if you happened to see her with anyone – maybe not during prom, but at any other time…”

“Nuh uh, dude–uh, sir. Look, I didn’t even ask her – she asked me to prom. Yeah, it was ‘cause she was more interested in Jared – he’s my classmate and was my partner for our science project – and she thought that we were buddy-buddy enough for her to get introduced like I’m her damn–uh, sorry,” side-eying his dad, Chad went on, trying to get a lid on his vocabulary. He wasn’t sure what they thought of him – how much they trusted that he was as clueless as they were – actually. That was a lie. He was hoping to come across as clueless as they were, however, and the best way to accomplish that, he knew, was staying under the radar. And staying under the radar did not include running his mouth to the Adults. 

God, he was not well equipped to con a friggin’ man of the law, what the _hell_ was he doing.

“Like I was some sort of wingman,” he amended. “When she realized I wasn’t, she made her exit, and I didn’t see head or tails of her after that.”

Her _hair,_ on the other hand…

Was a thought best not perused, as he held back a gag. Chances were, even if he did gag, the Adults would have passed it off as a reaction to that skank, but still. Inappropriate much, and even Chad knew that.

“Right,” the cop said. Did he ever introduce himself? “We’ll be questioning Sophia’s friends,” this, he said to Chad’s dad, obviously including the principal. “It’s just some routine questioning, and just to avoid any legal issues, we needed you present, you understand–”

“Definitely,” his dad said. “If that’s all…”

“Yeah, that’s it.” The cop flipped his notepad closed, and his dad stood.

“Then I think I’ll be leaving now. I trust my son is good to return to his classes?”

Chad stared at his dad. They’d just been unofficially questioned by the cops, and his dad wanted him to go back to his classes?

He considered the alternative, which was leaving with his dad right now, which would potentially lead to his father hitting Chad with his own line of questioning. Suddenly, the thought of going back to classes didn’t seem as unappealing, even if he’d only be late to second period by now.

Eh. He had something else in mind to do, anyway.

oOo

“I saw you, you know.” 

Chad had to hand it to him. The stiffening of Jared’s back was almost imperceptible, and he was sure he’d have missed it if he hadn’t been looking for it. But then Jared was turning around, and he looked completely casual, if it weren’t for the hard lines in his back hidden under his shirt now reflected in his eyes.

“At science?” Jared said. “You sure, ‘cause you were making a pretty big deal about not looking at me.” He grinned, although there wasn’t anything amused about the smile. “What, you suddenly jealous I got the hotter girl or something? I didn’t think you’d care about that.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Chad stated. Suddenly cocking his head to the side, he gestured Jared to follow him down the side of the building, away from the rest of the students making their way out. They were loud, chattering their heads off undoubtedly about the cop vehicle that still lingered in the fire lane of the parking lot.

A second passed, and then Jared followed him, face blank.

They walked in silence, Jared only a step behind, until they were almost at the back of the school’s main building before Chad pulled to a stop, turning around to face Jared.

A couple of beats passed before Chad broke the silence. “I should report you to the authorities.”

Jared blinked. “What the fuck for?”

Chad went on, unbidden. “Hell, there was a cop in the principal’s room, you know? I could’ve told him then that I saw you.”

“Again, Murray, you’re not making any sense–”

“Friday night,” Chad interrupted. “In the woods. You were dumping something into the river. How much you willing to bet that if I told the cops exactly where I saw you, they might find something?”

And just like that, Jared’s face was wiped clear of any faux confusion he might’ve expressed trying to play dumb all this while.

“But you didn’t,” Jared – accurately – pointed out. 

“Not _yet_ ,” Chad stressed. Frankly, when he approached Jared, all he knew was that he was going to confront him, but in hindsight, maybe he should’ve thought this whole thing out a little better, because he had no idea what to say now. 

Jared saved him from having to think too hard on how to continue that line of thought, for the time being, by asking him the million dollar question. “Are you going to?”

Chad sighed, slumping against the brick walls beside him. “Depends. Are you going to murder me too?”

At that, Jared looked affronted, as if the idea was positively appalling. “Why the hell would I?”

“I don’t know!” Chad exclaimed. “Why did you kill Sophia?”

“Keep your voice down,” Jared hissed, but then spoke normally. “And ‘cause I didn’t like her.”

Chad blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

Jared shrugged. “She was being a bitch to you,” he said, as if that explained everything. 

“Don’t tell me you did this as some backward favor to me,” Chad said, feeling faint. “‘Cause uh, thanks, but seriously, no thanks. She was a bitch, yes, but you couldn’t have dealt with that dislike like, oh, I don’t know, us mere mortals?”

Jared rolled his eyes. “Okay, that wasn’t _all_ of it–”

“Good?”

“– _But_ ,” Jared glared at him, probably for interrupting, probably for being a pestering idiot. Chad made a show of clamping his mouth shut. “I chose her because she was being a bitch.”

A second passed, and then another as Chad absorbed this. In the distance, the sounds of departing students dropped down as everyone left, slowly leaving Chad and Jared as the only two students on premises. It wasn’t a very reassuring thought. Considering the circumstances – the insane, psychotic, cold-blooded _murderous_ circumstances.

“You mean to tell me,” Chad said slowly. “That you, what, were planning on murdering someone anyway?”

Jared hummed. “At least she won’t be missed,” he said mildly.

“Won’t be–” Chad took a deep breath, and then another, as if it would help him calm down. It didn’t really help. “Do you realize,” he stated, trying to hold back the hysteria from creeping into his tone, “how many things are wrong with that sentence?” He shook his head, as if to dispel some of the dumbfounded frustration within, but when it didn’t work, he roughly dragged a hand through his close cropped hair instead, clutching at it with a strange sense of desperation as he fought to make sense of things. “Yeah, I don’t give a fuck, but — people are still going to miss — you don’t just go around killing people, dammit!” Chad hissed. “Seriously you’ve gotta be a fucking psycho—” oh. Well. There was something. “Don’t tell me you’re a fucking psychopath,” he said, feeling resigned, yet hardly daring to meet Jared’s eyes, but needing to, if at least to know—

Jared shrugged, and combined with his hands tucked in his pockets, he looked like they might as well have been discussing the weather with that stance. “Define psychopath,” he said. 

“I don’t know, someone fucking insane?” Chad muttered. “And who likes to murder people?”

Jared calmly regarded him for a few seconds. He didn’t say a single word, leaving Chad feeling increasingly on edge. “I’m not going to murder everyone,” he said. 

“Great, that was an option?”

Jared rolled his eyes. “But if you’re asking me about my… abnormalities–”

“Sure, that’s one word for it.”

“Will you shut up and listen?” It wasn’t said with any vex, and yet, it effectively had Chad shutting up, mentally visualizing his lips being threaded together with steel to prevent himself from interrupting. “Yeah, maybe I’m not like other people,” Jared rolled his eyes at himself at his words. “Maybe I’m a little fucked in the head in comparison. But I’m not gonna murder like, my family, or you.”

Chad couldn’t help himself. “So anyone else is fair game?” He frowned. “And… not that I’m trying to make you rethink that decision or anything, but… uh. Why me?”

Jared smiled, and if anything, it was the one thing he could’ve done that certainly had Chad on edge, more than anything else. “‘Cause I like you. Enough to be considered friends, I guess. And not that there’s a rulebook or anything – even if there was, there probably isn’t a high chance I’d follow it, but I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t murder my friends.”

Chad swallowed. “Shouldn’t, or wouldn’t?”

Jared cocked an eyebrow at him. “Does it really matter?”

Absolutely dumbfounded at this point, Chad slowly shook his head – really, what else could he have done?

_Christ, Jared fucking Padalecki is a psychopath. And for some goddamn reason, he sees me as a friend._

With a – stupid, stupid, _stupid_ – bout of courage, Chad decided to press on one last topic once more. “I could still tell someone that I saw you. Hell, you pretty much told me you’re game for murdering people, I _should_ tell someone before you murder someone else.”

Jared stared at him, far too shrewdly with those cunning eyes. “Yeah, but you aren’t gonna,” he said, easy as you please.

Throat working furiously beyond the sudden bout of dryness, he pushed the words out. “Uh huh, and how would you know that?”

Jared smirked. “Maybe it’s just one of my many other ‘abnormalities.’”

_I’m beyond fucked._

oOo

Chad was of two minds.

One, was of the obvious, and blatantly smarter choice, was to go to the cops and tell them everything he saw.

But then maybe he’d have to cut some things out. Would he be charged with… fuck, what were the terms? Being an accomplice or whatever for obstruction of information, or whatever? 

Although, the longer Chad went, uncertain what step to take, that possibility seemed more and more likely. 

Chad was way too pretty to go to jail, juvenile or not.

The other, was to keep his head down, and forget everything. Meeting Jared, forming some weird sort of friendship with him – god, even the word was enough to make chills go up his spine – and most importantly, forget seeing him with Sophia. Or what was left of her, or whatever.

The anxiety of the agonizing decision he was faced with needing to make would be the root cause of him vomiting, Chad was sure.

Forgetting wasn’t going to be easy. The cops were still driving past the school every now and then, and going about his life – walking down the city, shopping at the fucking groceries – there were either cops, or missing posters of Sophia, with a number and what Chad noticed was a reward that kept increasing by the week.

She may have been a bitch, but apparently her darling parents didn’t care about that.

Chad just kept his head down and kept walking whenever he encountered either of the two. 

No, seeing them both together didn’t make anything better. The guilt that curdled his gut only became more pronounced, if anything, and if he weren’t subconsciously striving to act as if everything was normal, he’d have ditched school ages ago. Hell, he was pretty sure his dad wouldn’t have said anything… if it had been a few weeks ago, when Sophia was first announced missing, and they decided to talk with Chad first – out of everyone else, why they chose him… 

Chad didn’t want to think about it.

At least, Jared seemed to realize well enough to leave him alone. He wasn’t sure if coming to a decision would have to impact the way they’d interact in the future, because Chad was absolutely, one hundred percent fine not having to deal with the psycho kid that seemed content to act perfectly normal, but was batshit insane to murder one girl, and might even be contemplating murdering more people. In fact, it was great that Chad – wasn’t avoiding him, but – was… away, from Jared. Lesser chances of walking in on him with someone else’s corpse.

Like that worked so well last time.

Last time. Jesus. Yeah, no. Chad had no interest in finding out about another one, nor did he unintentionally wish to be involved in it, somehow. No, Chad was a one man army, all for himself, and it no longer involved seeing Jared as his own little lab rat to psychoanalyze the crazy brain wires of or anything.

If only that explained away why he still didn’t return the books he’d long ago picked up from the school library about psychology. Once upon a time he could’ve claimed laziness, but the books on neurology and social science from the county library were way too recent for that.

But nope, Chad wasn’t thinking about it. Actually, he had enough to think about, what with the conversation his dad had with him the day he came home from school after being more or less interrogated by that cop and the principal.

_“Look, Chad…” his dad sighed. Chad had held out hope that maybe his dad wouldn’t say anything when he’d come home from work and hadn’t immediately addressed the elephant in the room. It lasted all until dinner time, when they were seated around the small dining table – all three of them, for once, sitting together for a family meal. Chad had a feeling things were going to hit the ceiling when he’d been called downstairs, but it was such an underhanded move of his dad to focus on him when Chad couldn’t make an easy escape._

_His mom had even made meatloaf, for fuck’s sake, and it was the good kind too._

_“We know, we haven’t been the most…” his dad paused, playing with his fork and knife as he struggled to find the right words. “Attentive, when it came to you.”_

_Oh, god. Chad wasn’t sure where this was heading – he hadn’t been entirely sure how it was gonna start in the first place, but this… wasn’t something he could see himself looking forward to, that’s for sure. Chewing on little fire ants seemed like a more fascinating option, actually._

_“But,” and this time, it was his mom speaking up. “We’ve decided things have to change. We’ve neglected you for far too long, and god knows that was absolutely incorrect of us.”_

_His dad nodded, even though he looked as pained as Chad felt, having this conversation. “We’ve… let fall our responsibilities, and slowly, but surely, we know it’s gonna start showing in you. So we decided together,” the smile his parents casted at each other was more akin to flat-lipped grimaces, “that we’re gonna step up to our plates to help you do the same.”_

_“It’s not too late for things to change around here,” his mom said, suddenly focusing on lifting the napkin from her lap and waving it out. “So that’s what we’re gonna do. Starting with being more involved with each other, and your dad and I decided that the best way to do that…”_

_“Was to bring you into the fold, son.” His dad bared his teeth in a poor imitation of another smile, and unbidden, Chad’s mind flashed to Jared._

_For one frightening second, he had a thoroughly horrifying thought that this was it, his parents were going to reveal that they were in it too, they were all mass-murderers–_

_“You’re certainly old enough, so you got the maturity–”_

_This wasn’t helping their case in mentally reassuring Chad that they weren’t killers._

_“And so I’m sure I can trust you to take up a few hours. It’ll be after school, of course, god knows we won’t have you neglecting one in favor for the other. But you’ll be expected to be at the shop longer on weekends, so you better start waking up earlier.” His dad chuckled, and Chad blinked._

_“The… shop?”_

_His mom hummed in confirmation. “Yes, it’ll be perfect for you to get some exposure to the real world, helping your dad with the accounts and maybe even the deliveries and the like. I imagine it’ll also look good on your resume in the future.”_

_His dad snorted. “Don’t worry about other jobs right now, you can work with me as long as you want.”_

_His mom’s lips flattened into a thin line, looking at his dad with a barely hidden glare, but Chad wasn’t focusing on them anymore._

_The butcher shop. His dad… wanted him to work at the butcher shop. To pick up responsibilities, and be a mature adult… by dooming himself to the one place that he knew for certain wasn’t going to be taking him places anytime soon._

_Not that he’d had plans like that for himself, but still…_

_“Sure,” he looked up at his parents, effectively halting the hissed argument they’d already started to have. “I’ll do it.”_

_And if he started reading the textbooks on the human brain while he was at the butcher shop instead of manning the dusty old books like he was supposed to, at least he knew to do so out of his dad’s sight._

oOo

It was another Monday as per usual, but nearing the end of the year, and most of the students in Mr. Jones class were freaking out about the final touches of their science project. 

Heh. Suckers. Chad had no sympathy, not that he ever really cared in first place, but it was nice, not having to worry about something simply because he’d already done it, and he knew he wasn’t going to fail either.

He really had only one person to thank for that… but Chad and Jared hadn’t spoken for almost a month now. Jared was clearly of the idea that the ball was in Chad’s court, and he’d bounced it around for far too long, trying to figure out where to throw it. 

They were still sitting side by side in science, despite pretty much ignoring each other’s presence otherwise. 

It made it a hell of a lot easier for Chad to slide the note to Jared when Mr. Jones wasn’t looking. 

_Any more midnight treks to the woods I need to worry about?_

Jared’s eyes slid over the small slip of paper, face not revealing even the tiniest quirk of a wrinkle to indicate an emotion. Looking back up at where Mr. Jones was writing something on the board, he scrawled something down without looking, and then reached his arms out. 

Chad blinked at the slip of paper now on his desk, slyly dropped under the guise of Jared stretching out his abnormally long limbs. 

_I thought you wouldn’t want to know._

Chad sighed. Jared did have a point. 

Scrawling two measly words, he crumpled it up slightly as he tossed it to Jared

_I don’t._

Jared looked at him at that, raising an eyebrow. Furiously pretending he wasn’t blushing, Chad stared straight at Mr. Jones as their teacher helped out a couple of girls who’d gone up to his desk for their project related question. 

The slip was crumpled into a ball again when it hit the side of his face, and he scrambled to catch it before it fell to the floor. 

_So why’re you asking._

Fucking smart ass. But fine, if he wanted to play that way…

It took Chad a couple of seconds to figure out how to word his answer well enough, without running out of space. God knew he was already planning on lighting this piece of paper on fire until it was nothing more than dust, but that didn’t mean he was gonna be reckless until then. 

_TBH? I have no clue. Maybe I’m just trying to be your friend so I can gather enough clues first._

Jared chuckled, like the damn loon he was. 

_Sure. Good luck._

Trust Padalecki to manage to infuriate him with three measles words. 

He almost broke the tip of his pencil scrawling out his response. 

_You think I won’t do it, ‘wonder’ boy?_

_I think you’re too invested for your own damn good_. 

That fucker… 

_Invested? In your nighttime activities? Dude, you need to brush up on your vocabulary. ‘Invested’ is the_ _last_ _word I’d use._

Jared side eyed him. 

_Are you sure about that?_

Consciously aware that the tiny slip of paper was almost completely covered in pencil markings, Chad tried to make his writing smaller as he filled in the last tiny gap available. 

_Absolutely._

With no more space on the paper, he’d figured he’d won that round. The ball may have been in Jared’s court, but Chad scored fair and square. Hell, he wouldn’t blame Jared if it took him a while to recover—

A new slip of paper slid onto his desk. 

_Say what you will, but you’re invested._

_And by that, I mean you’re not gonna gather shit, if only because maybe, just maybe, you’ll start seeing things from my perspective._

A chill wracked its way through Chad’s body, so severe that he almost shivered violently in his seat. He barely refrained, if only to avoid attention. 

He scribbled out the words so fast, it was a wonder the paper didn’t tear. 

_What the fuck are you talking about_

At least Jared didn’t keep him in suspense for too long, sliding the paper back within several seconds. 

_Relax. I’m just saying, not everyone’s a model citizen out there, you know._

Chad gaped.

_That isn’t an excuse!_

_Maybe it isn’t. But it’s gonna be enough to make you doublethink yourself._

Chad stared at Jared for a second before he remembered himself, and then he whipped his head back down to write back an answer.

_You sound awfully sure about that._

Again, Jared slipped the paper back within a handful of seconds. 

_I think I already answered that one, right?_

When Chad looked up, Jared winked at him. 

**Author's Note:**

> drop a comment, maybe?


End file.
